The Silence of the Lambs mostly ends on a victorious note, with the good guys coming out on top. Clarice tracks down and kills Buffalo Bill, saving Catherine Martin from the well and finally finding inner peace as “the lambs stop screaming.” The only loose thread is Hannibal Lecter – he escapes, leaving a trail of bodies and a chilling promise that some evil can never be caught. | © Orion Pictures
Get Out delivers a relatively happy ending, with Chris managing to survive and escape the Armitage family’s horrifying trap. After killing Jeremy, Dean, and Missy, and with Rose ultimately taken down by Walter, Chris is finally rescued by his friend Rod. The good guy wins in the end, but at a steep emotional cost. | © Universal Pictures
Thirteen Ghosts stands out for doing things a little differently – it’s more inventive than gory, and its ghosts are strange enough to actually stick with you. The story follows a family trapped in a glass-walled mansion filled with vengeful spirits, each one more unsettling than the last. With solid effects and a strong cast, it’s a slick, eerie ride that comes closer to greatness than most horror films dare. | © Warner Bros. Pictures
You’re Next starts as a typical home-invasion horror but quickly flips the script. Sharni Vinson’s Erin isn’t the usual terrified victim. She’s smart, calm, and ready to fight back with brutal precision. Her survival instincts turn the tables on the attackers, making this one of the most satisfying and surprising horror victories in years. | © Lionsgate
Chopping Mall delivers everything you’d want from 80s horror: bright lights, bad decisions, and killer robots. A group of teens decide to spend the night in a shopping mall, unaware that a lightning strike has turned its new security robots into killing machines. It's a perfect slice of midnight-movie mayhem where the survivors earn their victory one laser blast at a time. | © Concorde Pictures
Near Dark feels raw, dangerous, and strangely romantic. With Kathryn Bigelow’s sharp direction, a moody Tangerine Dream score, and Bill Paxton chewing up every scene, it trades the glamour of vampire myths for grit, dust, and something unexpectedly human underneath it all. | © Entertainment Film Distributors
The Hunt takes aim at everyone and everything: politics, outrage, and the internet’s obsession with picking sides. It follows liberals hunting conservatives, then conservatives fighting back, all while exposing how ridiculous both extremes can be. Sharp, bloody, and unapologetically satirical, it’s less about who wins and more about how everyone loses when hate becomes the game. | © Universal Pictures
Lights Out expands on the viral short film that terrified millions, and delivers exactly what fans were hoping for. It follows a young woman forced to face the shadowy entity that haunted her childhood, now threatening her younger brother. Packed with clever jump scares and a tense, eerie atmosphere, this movie explains why we’re all a little afraid to turn off the lights. | © Warner Bros. Pictures
Army of Darkness picks up right where Evil Dead II left off, throwing Bruce Campbell’s Ash straight into the medieval battlefield. Trying to get home, he botches a magic spell and ends up unleashing an undead army led by his evil double. What follows is wild chaos with Ash proving he’s the only guy who can save the world and still make it look like a joke. | © Universal Pictures
Dave Made a Maze is a wonderful horror comedy. When Dave builds a cardboard maze that turns out to be impossibly huge and dangerously alive, his friends dive in to rescue him, and find themselves trapped in a handmade nightmare. It’s the kind of movie that reminds you how fun low-budget filmmaking can be when imagination goes wild. | © Gravitas Ventures
An American Werewolf in London walks the fine line between horror and comedy with perfect balance. Two American backpackers stumble into a nightmare on the English moors, and what follows is both gruesome and darkly funny. The transformation scenes remain iconic, the chaos in Piccadilly unforgettable, and by the end, even tragedy feels oddly human. | © Universal Pictures
Bone Tomahawk blends the grit of a western with the brutality of a horror film. Kurt Russell leads a rescue party into hostile territory, only to face horrors that feel both primal and disturbingly real. It’s slow, tense, and deeply unsettling – but in the end, courage and loyalty prevail, showing that even in the darkest parts of the frontier still a chance. | © RLJ Entertainment
The Lost Boys captures everything that made 80s horror unforgettable – style, rebellion, and just the right amount of blood. In Santa Carla, two brothers discover their new town hides a nest of vampires, leading to a stylish, fast-paced fight for survival. Between Kiefer Sutherland’s menacing charm, the iconic soundtrack, and those practical effects, it’s a rare horror story where the good guys win. | © Warner Bros. Pictures
Hush is another standout from Mike Flanagan, proving why he’s become one of modern horror’s most reliable directors. His wife, Kate Siegel, stars as Maddie, a deaf woman fighting for her life against a masked intruder in her secluded home. In the end, Maddie turns the tables, killing her attacker with a corkscrew and calmly calling the police as help finally arrives. | © Netflix
Ready or Not takes a familiar setup and twists it into a bloody, hilarious nightmare. Samara Weaving shines as Grace, who must survive a deadly game of hide-and-seek against her new family of rich psychopaths. Fast-paced, darkly funny, and surprisingly satisfying, it ends with Grace walking out alive while evil literally goes up in flames. | © 20th Century Fox
Not every horror story ends in despair. Sometimes the good guys outsmart the monsters, survive the night, and even find a little peace at the end. These 15 movies aren’t the most obvious picks, but each one proves that victory in horror doesn’t have to mean losing your mind first.
